May 8, 2007

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Glimpses of light from the outside – sometimes that’s what it takes

by quaesitor

One of the things that fascinates me (but also invariably troubles me) is how people who are not believers view those who are. Of course, there is a lot of mutual prejudice and ignorance – all too often the worst culprits are sadly the Christians who presume to comment categorically and dogmatically on those who are not. There is no excuse for that – and I have to say I wince sometimes (perhaps even often) when Christians speak out publicly, especially when they claim to do it in my name as a fellow-believer. I dare say that others have winced when i’ve done the same thing – and we certainly need great care.

Still, non-believers are no less prone to stereotyping and strident prejudice or ignorance. I fear that our good friend Richard Dawkins is too often guilty of that. So it is very refreshing when people seek to be more objective, open and/or honest. This doesn’t necessarily mean they accept the premises of the Christian faith at all – in fact, in the examples I cite here, most of these writers do not. But that makes their comments all the more powerful or helpful. And certainly with these here, i’m sitting here going alleluia because they make so much sense. I just wish we could maintain their level-headedness and sanity when we discuss things that atheists believe strongly…

Madeleine Bunting on THE NEW ATHEISTS WHO LOATHE RELIGION – grateful to Steve Timmis for putting me onto this one – fascinating article from yesterday’s Guardian. She engages with the likes of Christopher Hitchens and especially Sam Harris who has recently published the chart-topping Letter to a Christian Nation.

Dawkins is an unashamed proselytiser. He says in his preface that he intends his book for religious readers and his aim is that they will be atheists by the time they finish reading it. Yet The God Delusion is not a book of persuasion, but of provocation – it may have sold in the thousands but has it won any souls? Anyone who has experienced such a conversion, please email me (with proof). I suspect the New Atheists are in danger of a spectacular failure. With little understanding and even less sympathy of why people increasingly use religious identity in political contexts, they’ve missed the proverbial elephant in the room. These increasingly hysterical books may boost the pension, they may be morale boosters for a particular kind of American atheism that feels victimised – the latest candidate in a flourishing American tradition – but one suspects that they are going to do very little to challenge the appeal of a phenomenon they loathe too much to understand.

Matthew Parris on THE HEART OF THE MATTER: regular readers will perhaps have picked up that I’m on the whole a big fan of Matthew Parris – former Tory MP, hilarious and astute political commentator (for years the Times’ parliamentary sketch writer) and now regular columnist in the same paper. I was given an old photocopy of this column he wrote some time back – i’ve no idea when and haven’t been able to trace it on the net. All I know is that it was definitely in the Times and was around Easter time. If you can trace it that would be great, so i can provide a direct link. In the meantime, i’ve posted a transcript of it. He is trenchant and spot on. There is an old gag amongst ministers that the things that are guaranteed to cause trouble (and even splits) in churches are Music or Flowers, or even a combination of the two. It takes someone like Parris to shake us up and bring us to our senses. Here is a small taste – one of my favourite bits:

For if God exists then our Godless existence falls apart. And if God does not exist then surely the church falls apart! We would be dealing with a superstition. A whole range of ancillary debates would just drop away as pointless. Forms of prayer? Hats or no hats? Thou or you? What would it matter? Would we discuss how to address the Loch Ness Monster if we did not believe in the Loch Ness Monster? Would we pay money into a pension policy if the insurance company were a fiction?

Terry EagletonreviewingRichard Dawkins’ GOD DELUSION: because this is so good, i thought I’d link to it again (having 1st linked to it on Feb 4 2007). Full of very sane and sensible criticism from this brilliant literary theorist, former Oxford Professor and Marxist. The whole article was originally in the London Review of Books.

This is slightly different but no less intriguing.

Lord Hattersley on LINKING FAITH & GOOD WORKS: this is one of his regular columns in the Guardian, written 18 months ago, and did the email rounds at the time – but it is definitely worth keeping in circulation as it is generous and honest, even if you don’t agree with everything he says:

It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity à la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night. The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me. The truth may make us free. But it has not made us as admirable as the average captain in the Salvation Army.